Page 47 of A Rebel's Shot

“Slow. Salmon aren’t up here yet.”

“Yeah. Life of an outdoorsman. A lot of waiting followed by a lot of work.”

She huffed a laugh. “It’s the waiting part that’s driving me nuts.”

And yet that was the part of the hunt that settled him.

“So… you never answered my question.” She glanced at him over the rim of her cup.

“About?” He set his drink on a table and tipped hishead toward the house. “I’m a little distracted by my fingers sticking together.”

“How’s it going in Barrow?” She stepped up next to him as he made his way inside.

“Slow.” He shot her a smile.

She rolled her eyes.

“It’s pretty much exactly like I expected. I fly Merritt to the mine site in the morning, wait around all day for her to be done, then fly back to Barrow in the evening.” He shrugged, then held the screen door open for Astryde.

“That’s got to be boring.” She beelined for the kitchen and flipped the water on. “What do you do all day, then?”

“Merritt took pity on me and gave me guard duty.”

He pumped two squirts of hand soap into his palm and sudsed up. “Though patrolling the perimeter of a remote mine might actually be worse than just twiddling my thumbs. It’s pretty much a guarantee nothing but the occasional moose or bear is venturing there, and even that’s slim with all the noise and activity constantly happening.”

“I’ve read the articles about the villages raising questions. With all that waiting around, have you seen anything off?” Astryde’s tone was casual, but there was a thread of something tight in it he couldn’t place.

The conversation he’d overheard with Silas and the safety guy popped into Tiikâan’s head, but should he say anything about that?

He ran his hands under the water, flipped the faucet off, then grabbed the towel hanging from thecabinet. Leaning his backside against the counter, he took his time drying his hands while he thought of an answer. He didn’t want to put a bad light on Merritt if his perception of the conversation was wrong.

“Not really.”

He tossed the towel onto the counter, then quickly picked it up and hung it on the hook. Mom would give him the stink eye if her kitchen wasn’t in order.

He turned to Astryde. “I wouldn’t know what I was looking for, even if there was.”

Astryde shrugged. “You’d know.”

Her immediate belief in him filled his lungs like he’d been drowning, but he pushed the air out in a slow, controlled breath. The Rebel family wore support and unshakeable devotion to each other like a badge.

He hadn’t done anything to deserve the faith.

Far from it.

He cleared his throat. “I do know that Merritt, the new CEO, is working around the clock to find out if the claims have any legitimacy.

“Supposedly, her dad spent his life making sure that HGR left as little impact on the land as possible. I watched a YouTube video of him at some conference adamantly declaring that clean mining wasn’t just a possibility, but their responsibility.”

“Yeah, but saying it in front of a crowd and actually doing it in the middle of the wilderness where no one would know are two different things.”

“You’re right, but I really don’t think that’s the case, at least not with Merritt.” He shook his head. “She wouldn’t do that.”

Astryde stared at him, her gaze penetrating into his brain and making him want to shift. He held still.

Barely.

“Ah, I see,” she finally said with a small, sad smile that made him bristle. “Don’t let a pretty face lull you into complacency, little brother.”

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